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AN 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



First Congregational Society 



IN 



Harvard, Massachusetts, 



OCTOBER 22, 1882, 



BY SETH CHANDLER. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 
BY SAMUEL A. GREEN, M. £>. 



Boston, Mass. : 

GEORGE E. LITTLEFIELD, 

Antiquarian Bookstore, 67 Cornhill. 

1884. 



AN 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



First Congregational Society 



IN 



Harvard, Massachusetts, 



OCTOBER 22 > 1882, 



BY SETH CHANDLER, 



WITH Aft "A*PPEN'DiX'" * 



BY„ SAMUEL &\ 



'CR£Eb\\ll. #;, 



Boston, Mass. 1 

GEORGE E. LITTLEFIfeLbi 

Antiquarian Bookstore* 67 CornhilK 

18S4. 






fc£ 






In the latter part of the year 1882, it was my privilege to supply the 
pulpit of the First Congregational Society in Harvard, for a few Sundays, 
while the parish was awaiting the time appointed for the installation of 
their minister, Mr. Maglathlin, to whom a call had been given and ac- 
cepted. During this period, I was requested by a member of the society 
to prepare an historical discourse for the following Sunday, to which I 
assented. The delivery of the sermon, I supposed, would be the only pub- 
lication which my hastily written performance would receive, but, a per- 
son outside of the parish and the town has requested its presentation 
in its present form to which, knowing its imperfection, I have reluctantly 

consented. 

The Author. 



DISCOURSE. 



Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the 
prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen 
and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for- 
ever : and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpet- 
ually. — II Chron., VII, 15, 16. 

We cannot but be aware that we live in an age of 
change. That mind is enlarging, directing the hand to 
new achievements, and guiding the life into new paths 
of wisdom, virtue and happiness. In every branch of 
science and of political economy : in every department 
of labor, new discoveries are being developed, and new 
facilities presenting themselves to our notice. Physical 
evolutions are less estranged from the common under- 
standing, and scientific researches are received with in- 
creased familiarity by the general mind. The masses are 
daily more interested in themes that heretofore had ap- 
peared above the common reach, giving the dullest eyes 
to see that society is engaged in a healthy progress. 

The pulpit has, however, been slow to sympathize with 
these changes, until within a comparatively brief period. 
It has not only been afraid that hasty improvements 
would produce fatal reactions, but that any innovation 
upon the creeds and customs of past ages would be fa- 
tal to the influence and life of pure religion. This fear 
is happily passing away, and the various Protestant de- 
nominations are coming to see that a more consistent 
form of faith, and a clearer method of its presentation 



4 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

are demanded, in order that the ministrations of the 
sanctuary meet the wants of an advancing age. Much 
less than a century since it would have been accounted 
sacrilege to stray from the beaten paths of spiritual teach- 
ing, by introducing the wants of temporal life and health 
into a sermon, by attempting to prove the natural ability 
of man for mental and moral progress, by seeking, through 
the use of reason, to illustrate scripture truth, and cer- 
tainly the thought must be ignored that physical science 
could be allowed to modify any forms of christian doc- 
trine, or vary any preconceived faith cf the believer. It 
was not even set down as gospel preaching when duties 
formed the theme ; the social relations of life, the obli- 
gations of man to man, the reciprocal duties of families 
and communities, and all themes of like character were 
slurred as mere moral lecturing, as the filthy rags of 
righteousness, and destitute of religious vitality, as des- 
titute of power to meet the wants of the spiritual life, 
as husks and muddy water to sustain a perishing body. 

But people in these latter days do not feel satisfied 
with a reiteration of bodies of divinity — bodies without 
souls — with mere dogma salvation, with the worship of 
rituals and the like. The}' will accept the dogma as the 
helper of their faith, but by no means regard it the chief 
ingredient of a religious life, and they look upon rituals 
as signs and reminders of duty, not with the awe-struck 
devotion that a pagan devotee regards his idol, as though 
the ritual is at the bottom of all true religion, and the 
only instrument by which the doors of salvation may be 
opened to the trembling soul. On the other hand the 
idea seems now to prevail that pure religion is an out- 
growth of the nature ; that it is taught and helped by 
illustrations drawn from revelation, from the volume of 
nature and from the attributes and promises of the Cre- 
ator, from everything that will touch the heart, culti- 
vate the affections, elevate hope, dignify action, rectify 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 5 

character and lead the soul to the worship of God as a 
universal Father, and to honor man as the child of that 
Father and as a member of a universal brotherhood. 
This change is not confined to what has been called the 
liberal denominations, but, in a measure, runs through 
protestantism. 

Still, some of you may consider the discourse which 
I have prepared for this time and place, better adapted 
to the platform than the pulpit, nearer in accordance 
with the teaching of the Lyceum, than those of the 
sanctuary of worship ; still, you will allow me to speak 
my word as I hold it good, and leave the criticisms that 
shall come out of it to subsequent consideration. 

In accordance with a suggestion of one of your num- 
ber, I propose to discourse upon the past condition of 
your town in general, your religious society in particular, 
its present aspects and future prospects, regretting that 
I am compelled to confine my thoughts and words to the 
few pages of an ordinary sermon. 

Within about thirty-five years from the landing of the 
Pilgrims at Plymouth, two contiguous townships were 
established in this region, the territory of which reached 
from beyond the present boundary line of New Hamp- 
shire, on the north, to the valley of the Nashua river on 
the south, containing nearly two hundred square miles. 
These towns bore the names of Lancaster and Groton. 
The territory which then formed the town of Lancaster, 
has by division, been made to comprise what is now a 
part of the two towns of Boylston, a part of Leomin- 
ter, the entire towns of Sterling, Lancaster, Berlin, and 
Bolton and part of Harvard. The territory which was 
at first organized as Groton now comprises the towns of 
Pepperell, Groton, Shirley, and Ayer, and portions of 
Dunstable, Westford, Littleton, Harvard, Massachusetts, 
and Nashua, New Hampshire. The several towns named, 
that colonized from Lancaster and Groton, were not in- 



6 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

corporated, as townships, until after the close of the In- 
dian hostilities, so common at an earlier period ; yet, 
scattered families had commenced their settlements over 
a part of the region which these towns now combine, and 
were made to suffer from the depredations of the aborigi- 
nes. When we contrast the situation of these settlements 
with our own happy homes we must confess that the 
"pleasant lines" which have fallen to us have come 
through the toils, tears and blood of an honored ancestry. 

Notwithstanding the dearth of the means of temporal 
life, at this early period, the people must supply them- 
selves with food and clothing, and would also enjoy the 
facilities of moral and mental instruction. The church 
and the school must not be forgotten, notwithstanding 
the prior claims of the temporal man. 

Let us briefly consider the difficulties that were com- 
bined with these claims at this early period of your 
town's history, that you may mark the contrast between 
your cultivated farms and pleasant villages, and the wil- 
derness settlements of your forefathers. 

When the settlements began, animal productions were 
very scarce, and animal food but little known, except 
what were the hunter's spoils. And very small crops of 
grain — almost the sole reliance — were realized. And 
then how could this grain be converted to meal ? At 
first only by the slow process of samp-mortars. For it 
was thirty 3 r ears after the settlements were begun in Lan- 
caster, and twelve years after they were commenced in 
Groton, that the first corn-mill was built in the latter 
territory. And that mill stood within the limits of what 
is now the town of Harvard. It was situated in a north- 
ern section of the town, and a mill stands there now; 
and, the surrounding territory bears the name of the 
" old mill district." The original structure was set up by 
John Prescott, then living at Lancaster, and Jonas Pres- 
cott, afterwards a resident of Groton. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 



A few years after the erection of this mill, Groton 
was destroyed by the Indians, but this structure, then 
situated in that town, so useful to the people, was passed 
over by the depredators without injury. This mill was 
for many years the only place, within a large region of 
territory, where grinding could be done. It was, there- 
fore, in almost constant use by night and day. Indeed, 
so great was its press of work that the inhabitants of 
Groton were compelled to enact a law requiring the pro- 
prietor of the mill to set apart the second and sixth days 
of each week when grinding could be done only for the 
Groton ians. 

Think, my brethren, what your fathers had to endure 
in the simple matter of having their grain converted to 
meal ! Light carriages did not then exist, but those 
who had horses could lay their bags upon the backs of 
their animals, which then proved the most convenient 
method of transport. Yet this method was denied to all 
but the favored few who could keep horses. A large 
majority of the people had to pursue a different course. 
In winter ox-sleds and hand-sleds were used to some 
extent, and in summer, farm carts and wheelbarrows were 
brought into requisition. Many a load was thus borne 
over the uneven, half made roads, for a distance of 
from two to five miles, — while many another load was 
carried on the stalwart shoulders of the hardy yeomanry, 
at every season of the year. Through storms of rain 
and snow, over roads of mud and slush, the burdens 
were thus transported for weary miles, consuming in a 
single journey all the hours of daylight and frequently 
a part of the night. And what greatly increased and 
prolonged this irksome task was the amount of service 
demanded of one and the same mill. Two journeys were 
required more frequently than one, to accomplish the 
desired purpose. This shows in a small thing, how much 
labor and thought were demanded to secure the whole 
process of supplying the households with food. 



8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

This first requirement of the family, as a matter 
of course, devolved on the men, yet you are not to 
suppose that the other sex were excused from an 
equal share of toil and trial in upholding the life and 
progress of the new settlements. It was by their hands 
that the clothing was wrought. It is true they avoided 
many labors now, perhaps, unnecessarily sought and in- 
dulged. It is probable that many years had passed after 
the settlements in this town, (and others of a similar 
nature) had commenced, before the houses had rooms, 
east and west, to keep clean and furnish ; there was lit- 
tle costly furniture daily to inspect and carefully adjust ; 
little time required to study and practice etiquette, no 
dress fashions to copy, to fret the mind and enslave the 
body, and no frequent varying of the attire to claim the 
thought, tax the attention and weary the action of the 
life. For they lived, mostly, in rude, unfinished cottages, 
used household implements of the coarsest make, and 
wore, for clothing, their own home manufactures, fabrics 
that will perform the ends required by their makers. 
And here lay their chief toil, to convert the raw ma- 
terial as it came from the field and the flock into gar- 
ments of use, comfort and comeliness and thus supply 
the second great temporal want of human existanee. 
This constitutes a source of the highest praise for the 
mothers and daughters of early New England. 

Until comparatively a recent period, it was the cus- 
tom of our farmers to keep a few sheep by which to 
supply the " everyday wear " of the family, and not un- 
frequently their " Sunday suits." 1 The bed material came 
from the same source. 

It was also the aim of most of the farmers, of this 
early time, to cultivate a little flax that the summer 
clothing of the family might also be supplied. The 
work of the father and his sons was completed when the 
sheep were shorn of their fleeces, and the flax broken 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 9 

and cleared from its rough stalks. This done, the work 
of the mother and the daughters found a place. Both 
the wool and the flax were converted into rolls by the 
slow and laborious practice of hand-carding. These rolls 
were spun into yarn and the yarn woven into cloth by 
hand-power machinery. At a subsequent period the 
breaking and the rolling were by water-power machinery, 
while the spinning and weaving were yet performed at 
the family hearth-stone. 

The outfit of girls entering married life at that period, 
did not consist of gilt mirrors, costly pianos, and Turkey 
carpets ; but of hand-cards, flax-hetchels, spinning-wheels, 
warping-bars and looms. These were essentials in every 
household establishment, and the girl who was unskilled 
in the use of these implements was hardly considered 
worthy of the family relation. Let it however be remem- 
bered that the strength and health of the damsels of 
that day, trained in these onerous employments, were 
as much superior to what are enjoyed by modern wo- 
men as the fabrics their hands wrought were superior, 
in durability, to the linsey-woolsey of this day, that 
passes under the specious name of superfine broadcloth. 

Think, in your changed condition, of jouv mothers 
and their daughters of these early times. They enter 
their attics with cards in hand and attack the massive 
piles of wool and flax, or they ply the spinning-wheel 
with a gentle hum of music, an affected imitation of the 
last psalm-tune sung at church, or send forth the jolts 
of the lumbering loom, while in a vessel over the kitchen 
fire below gently boils an Indian pudding for the family 
dinner, and you have a partially wrought picture of the 
early times. To be sure the wheel and the loom did 
not create the musical harmony of the modern piano, yet 
they wrought out a work which ministered to the com- 
fort of the family which, indeed, was largely essential 
to its very salvation. 



IO HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

The food and the clothing of the family thus supplied, 
by the joint labors of the household, we may suppose 
the people might be excused from any special effort, 
other than the supply of the temporal wants of the 
poor, until their lands should be cleared, their dwelings 
improved, and" their farms brought into an enlarged 
state of cultivation, but the sons of the Pilgrims enter- 
tained no such belief. Simultaneously with an effort 
made to meet the wants of temporal life, the spiritual 
man presented a claim for his share of attention. Meager 
as were the resources of physical life, they must not for- 
get the assembling of themselves together for social and 
divine worship. The settlers of this town could not 
ignore the claims of the sanctuary more than others. 
They must set up the public altar of devotion in the 
wilderness, however humble^ and make it the place for 
their Sabbath meeting. 

This town was incorporated in 1782, and probably a 
house of worship was very soon provided ; of the cer- 
tainty of this, however, I cannot declare, but the record 
states that a minister was called and settled, Oct. 10, 
1733. He remained here until Sept. 7, 1757, a period 
of twenty-four years. Reckoning according to the ser- 
vice of ministers at the present day, this may seem a 
long term ; but then ministers were settled for life, and 
it was thought almost as great sacrilege to break the con- 
nection between a minister and his parish as to dissolve 
that of husband and wife. 

The present inhabitants of Harvard may well feel proud 
of an ancestry, that under the severest temporal priva- 
tions could so brave the storms of physical want, as to 
find the means to set up a public altar of devotion, place 
upon it the Gospel candlestick and have it sweetly burn- 
ing as an exampler for all subsequent generations. But 
it was done. And, what is still better that, light has 
been kept brightly trimmed even to the present time, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. II 

the glory of every succeeding age of the town, burning 
out, it may be, the lives and strength of the successive 
ministers, that the souls of their people may have their 
way lighted to the kingdom of Heaven. And now, with 
your enlarged comforts and - pecuniary ability, would you 
not blush to own that this light must be quenched and 
the altar removed or forsaken ! 

I suppose that it must have been a strange work to 
dismiss John Seccomb, their first minister, before he 
should finish his life-career ; but, tradition has said that 
it was occasioned by a mutual disagreement between the 
parties, that could be removed in no other way. He had 
built a house and hoped to remain in his appointed 
work to the end of life, and was very reluctant to have 
the union dissolved. It has been said that he uttered, as 
a word of prophesy — which word I suppose arose from a 
grieved heart, or a vengeful spirit, — that the church in 
Harvard would never form a connection with a minister 
that would not be prematurely dissolved. Now the people 
who have composed the congregation in this place, dur- 
ing the hundred and fifty years of your church organ- 
ization have had nine ministers, who allhave been dis- 
missed at their own request or at the requirement 
of their parishioners, before the end of their natural 
lives, excepting two who were removed by death. 

After the dismissal of Mr. Seccomb, in 1757, the town 
settled, as its second minister, Rev. Joseph Wheeler, who 
remained here nine years, when he was dismissed. In 
1769 Rev. Daniel Johnson was called to the Harvard 
pulpit. He had the reputation of being a very eloquent 
preacher, but he died in 1777, after a ministry of eight 
years. Rev. Ebenezer Grosvenor was next inducted into 
the sacred office in this place. He was consecrated to 
the work in 1782, but died in 1788 after a ministry of 
six years. Rev. Mr. Blanchard, who had a settlement 
here for a time, resigned his place on account of ill 



12 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

health. Now I know not what number of the other min- 
isters, who have been settled here, would have remained 
for life, had the choice been left with themselves, but I 
do believe that long - ministries, life ministries, are most 
useful, effectual and fruitful of good results. It takes 
time to secure a proper acquaintance between a pastor 
and his people ; and, when a minister feels that he has 
a home for life, he gathers around himself friends and 
associations that become dearer by every year of union, 
that seem like a family circle that can be removed only 
by death. Skeptical as people are on this subject, I be- 
lieve that the change, which has of late been so much 
the order of the clay, has come nearly to its height, that 
it will soon reach a crisis, and that christians will re- 
turn to their faithfully tried ways, and believe that friends 
proved by time are better and should be cherished. 

It appears from a record made by Mr. Blanchard 
that the united ministries of the first four divines, 
in this place, amounted only to forty-seven years. Then 
a new era seemed to have commenced by the settlement 
of Rev. William Emerson. This bright and shining light 
of his day was born at Concord, Mass., May 6, 1769. 
He was a son of the Rev. William Emerson of Concord, 
and the grandson of Rev. Joseph Emerson of Maiden, 
and had many other relationships in the ministerial line. 
He was settled in 1792 and remained here until 1799, 
only seven years. 

By a fair compromise between the town of Harvard 
and the First Congregational Society in Boston, Mr. 
Emerson was dismissed by the first and became the min- 
ister of the second. He died at Boston, May 12, 1811. 
He was the father of the late Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
who was born at Boston, May 25, 1808. 

The next that was called to a pastorate in this town 
was Rev. Stephen Bemis, who was settled in 1801, but 
fulfilled a brief ministry of only six years when he was 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 13 

dismissed. The rupture was caused by the preaching of 
a political sermon on the day of the annual Fast. Tra- 
dition saith that the people were so enraged that some 
of them threatened him with an immediate expulsion 
from the pulpit, before he had left the steps of the meet- 
ing-house. He, of course deemed it " expedient that he 
go away." 

The scholarship of Mr. Bemis was of a high order. 
He was prepared for the ministry before Theological 
Schools were much in use. Young men, after leaving 
college, were required to spend a season of study with 
some noted clergyman before receiving orders. The cele- 
brated Dr. Lathrop of West Springfield, received under 
his instruction many students of this kind, among whom 
was Mr. Bemis. He was heard to say that the Rev. 
Jesse Apple ton, afterward President of Bowdoin College, 
and Stephen Bemis, afterward minister of this society, 
were the most finished scholars that ever passed under 
his instruction. 

Mr. Bemis was succeeded by the Rev. Warren Fay, 
who also remained six years, when he was removed to 
Charlestown where he passed the rest of his ministry. 

Rev. Mr. Blanchard was the next settled minister in 
this town, and he occupied the pulpit for seven years 
when, on account of ill-health, he was obliged to retire. 
He ' was well qualified both by nature and education, to 
sustain and honor the office of a New England divine. 

Rev. Washington Gilbert succeeded to the ministry of 
Mr. Blanchard, and his pastorate was continued to 1855, a 
period of twenty-four years ! A long ministry for the peo- 
ple of Harvard to experience and for the times in which 
it occurred. It was highly creditable both to minister 
and people ; and, probably it would have been to the 
greater credit and profit of both had the union been con- 
tinued until the death of the incumbent. 

Mr. Gilbert was a christian, a scholar and a gentle- 



14 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

man. He lived in the practice of a wise and consistent 
economy, and was thns enabled to ease the pecuniary 
burdens of an overtaxed people. His goodness was large- 
ly appreciated where he was best known, and hence his 
ministry, in an age of fickleness and change,, was longer 
than any of his predecessors except the first. I enjoyed 
the fellowship of this worthy man, during the larger 
part of his ministry, and had an interchange of pulpit 
services with him on fifty-two separate •occasions. 

From the settlement of Mr. Emerson unto the end 
of the ministry of Mr. Gilbert, which we may regard 
the second era in your ecclesiastical history, was fifty 
years ; this added to the several ministries of the first 
era, — ■ forty-seven years,— makes the whole length of 
time, when this parish had a settled incumbent in the 
pulpit, ninety-seven years. It shows the average length 
of the nine clergymen, who officiated during this time r 
less than eleven years. And reckoning from the time of 
the incorporation of the town in 1732, to the close of 
Mr. Gilbert's ministr} r in 1855,— one hundred and twenty- 
three years,— must have left the pulpit without a settled 
incumbent for the space of twenty-six years. 

It may be remarked here that from the beginning; 
of the settlement of Mr. Emerson to the end of 1855,, 
there appears to have been a general decline in Cal- 
vinism in the religious belief of the people of this town ; 
which change, opened the way here, and in most of 
the New England towns, for the great separation of 
the Congregational body into Trinitarian and Unitarian 
parties, which occurred in the first half of the present 
century. But the religious revolution in this town was 
more easily borne than in most places where it oc- 
curred, because it was effected without litigation, per- 
sonal strife or neighborhood bickerings. It seemed rather 
the wish of all that each should enjoy his religious 
rights and privileges without molestation. To be sure 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 15 

it was not without regret that the old landmarks were 
removed by a church secession, but it was quietly ef- 
ected. A new organization was established, a new altar 
set up, and a new ministry employed, and to the credit 
of the town be it named, the divided parties have gone 
along, side by side, with an unusual degree of harmony. 

The first minister settled by the seceding society — Rev. 
George Fisher — was allowed to remain in office during 
his life. His ministry was quiet and effective, and he 
had the respect of the inhabitants of the town and of 
the neighbohood, as far as he was known. He died 
the oldest member in his ministerial association, and 
his memory is reverently cherished by his surviving 
friends, now fast passing away. 

Since the departure of Mr. Gilbert from the town, you 
have had six clergymen established in your parish, who 
have walked in and out before you as spiritual teach- 
ers, whose united ministries have amounted to about 
twenty-five years. The ministries of Messrs. Barber and 
Goddard were especially distinguished for energy and 
effectiveness. The first of these has secured to himself 
a reputation which any clergyman might desire to covet, 
and the last proved his devotion to your interests when 
you had been deprived of yonr church building by fire. 
His labors were without stint or weariness to secure the 
means for erecting this beautiful temple now the place 
of your weekly gathering. Long may it stand, a me- 
morial of his fidelity, and of your exertions to keep alive 
the ordinances of the Gospel in this sacred place, on 
this consecrated Moriah of your own and your fathers' 
worship. 

When I consider the forty years, and more, of my in- 
direct connection with this parish, which has been main- 
tained by exchange with your ministers, and social in- 
tercourse with your people, scenes of happy remembrance 
pass before my inward vision, calling up circumstances 



l6 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

pleasing and profitable for reflection, and faces long since 
departed from outward sight. It is like passing through 
a gallery of portraits the resemblance of men and women 
we honored and loved in life, who though dead seem to 
speak. The venerable Jabez Hapgood, Dea. Fairbanks,, 
Enoch Perkins, the Whitneys, the Hills, and many others, 
including the names of Bigelow and Gardner who led 
in the praises of the sanctuary ; " our fathers where are 
they?" All buried beneath the thickly piled clods of 
the valley, while their spirits have arisen to a union 
with kindred spirits to worship in a higher temple made 
without hands. 

Dear brethren and sisters, your past has been glorious, 
and Harvard has been honored among sister towns in 
your vicinity. This honor has been largely secured by 
the efforts of bygone generations. By their labors they 
cleared, fenced and reduced your sterile hills to farms of 
thrifty cultivation. The orchard blooms on what were 
once rocky and profitless soils ; your present advanta- 
ges, and their glorious promise, is a result of the patient 
industry and consistent economy, practiced by fathers 
and mothers who wrought not for themselves only, but 
also for coming generations. And while they toiled for 
your physical comforts they forgot not your spiritual 
and mental wants. As I have intimated, they greatly 
encroached upon the necessities of temporal life that they 
might have wherewith to erect an altar of worship, they 
wrought equally hard to set up the first public school, 
and with what struggles, and under what privations a 
simple farming community must have labored to keep 
the common school along from year to year in these 
early times. They must have food and clothing it is 
true, but they would submit to the hardest fare and 
wear the coarsest garb, rather than neglect these two 
glorious institutions, the church and school. 

Now, dear brethren, when you remember that you 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 17 

have entered into the reward of these industries, and 
this economy of past generations, can you fail to believe 
the words of the Psalmist as descriptive of your own 
condition : " The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, 
yea I have a goodly heritage." 

Yea, you ought to do more than this. You should 
show your thankfulness by deeds as well as words. Your 
thriving farms, the general healthy appearance of all 
your temporal movements, go to prove that the physical 
necessities that tried your fathers belong to a past his- 
tory. Your school system is under such wise arrange- 
ment that you need no exhortation in that regard ; but, 
can we with equal positiveness declare that the altar 
fires of your sanctuary will never fail through a want of 
feeding ? Have you never, yourselves, entertained a fear 
that what the pilgrim settlers of New England prized 
so highly, labored so hard to sustain, and which was a 
source of such rich blessings to their descendants, may 
be neglected and in a measure suffered to die out by 
later generations? The question is worthy your serious 
consideration. 

Perhaps some of you have thought ere now, to ask 
what the preacher's sermon has to do with his text. I 
will tell you, that here is where my text comes in, 
" Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent 
unto the prayer that is made in this place, for now have 
I chosen and sanctified this house that my name may 
be there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be 
there perpetually." These are words of Solomon uttered 
at the dedication of his temple at Jerusalem, and they 
were followed by a threat that if the people failed of 
duty, they would lose the advantages of right doing, 
.and open to themselves the retribution of slothf illness 
and neglect. 

You have here one of the most elegant and conven- 
ient of church buildings, standing on the sanctified spot 



l8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

where your fathers worshipped. It is yours without the 
clog of a lingering parish debt, and cannot require a 
great sacrifice of earthly goods to keep the ordinances 
of religion moving forward as in olden time. You are 
about to settle a new minister, and I pray you to help 
him help you. Encourage him by a constant attendance 
at the seasons of weekly worship, and encourage him 
by meeting your pecuniary engagements with him, 
promptly, as you have agreed to do, and as he has rea- 
son to expect you will. Then will his heart be easy 
and his brain kept steady. Present circumstances go 
to show that this village, in the centre of your town, 
will always remain the centre of your operations ; that 
little opportunity can be offered to build up an outside 
community to draw away the population from the an- 
cient place of your assemblies. Improve the privileges 
thus happily presented, and you will live, grow, and 
bless coming generations as you have been blessed of 
those that have gone ; but, if you neglect your duty, as 
a religious body, you will fail, fade and die, yet it can 
be no other than death by suicide ! You have too 
much intelligence, too much mental energy, too much 
regard for the memory of your race, for your individual 
honor and for the honor of your town, in fine, you will 
incur too great sacrifices, by allowing a supineness that 
will bring upon you, as a society, a lingering, suicidal 
death ! 

I have spoken of the past, and of the present, and 
will close with a few words on your future prospects. 
Two encouraging thoughts present themselves for con- 
sideration. The first is, you are about to settle a new 
minister. I do not know him but I have heard that he 
has been a member of the church and society of the 
Rev. W. H. Cud worth of East Boston. That, of itself, 
is a recommendation ; for he must, under the circum- 
stances, have been under an influence that will assist to 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 19 

make a successful pastorate. I trust that he may 
come to you prepared, by outside organizations, to give 
effect to his pulpit labors, to interest in lay action, and 
thus unite a larger number of hands in the outward 
work of truth and grace ; increasing the love of all for 
the sabbath and the sanctuary ; that is what you want, 
and what all our parishes want to make them efficient. 
Now if he attempts to do all this, pray help him. Don't 
allow him to be a committee of one to plan and execute 
everything, leaving you all mere lookers on, but when 
his hands are stretched out until they shall be weary, 
come up on either side of him, as Aaron and Hur came 
up on either side of Moses, to stay his tired hands and 
encourage his fainting heart, and you will not only help 
to a general victory for your parish, but also do a great 
work of spiritual pleasure and profit for 3-ourselves. The 
other thought of encouragement, to which I would call 
your attention relates to the free classical school, re- 
cently established in this place. Your minister elect I 
understand is a practical teacher of youth, and possibly 
may be a helper, outside if not inside of this institu- 
tion, while, perchance, he may receive still greater 
help therefrom. The very fact that such an insti- 
tution exists in your midst, well funded for support, 
• is, in itself, a circumstance which you cannot but ap- 
preciate. The church and the school have ever been 
handmaids in the enlightment, libert} r , happiness and 
glory of mankind. I predict, that with a proper share 
of your personal sympathy and assistance, you will.be 
efficiently favored by both in coming time. 

If I have been rightly informed, Col. Bromfield an 
English gentleman, removed to Harvard at an early 
period, and purchased the venerable mansion which had 
been erected by the first minister of the town. The house 
was recently destroyed by fire, and the new school build- 
ing occupies its site. That school has been endowed by 



20 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

the widow of the late Rev. Mr. Blanchard, who was a 
granddaughter of Col. Bromfield. His family descendants 
lived after him in this mansion until its destruction. 
Among these was the venerable Professor Pearson, who 
filled an important position in the literary history of 
this commonwealth. His wife was a daughter of Col. 
Bromfield and he passed his last years in this town and 
here died. In his early life he was the preceptor of 
Byfield Academy, and afterward the principal of An- 
dover Academy; subsequently he had a professorship in 
Harvard College, and was at length an efficient agent 
in the establishment of the Theological School at An- 
dover, and for a short time a professor there. But he 
came to this town to pass his last years. He had two 
sons who also lived here until, or near to, the time of 
their death, and a daughter, the last of her race who, 
as we have said, remembered the town by her beneficence. 
Let all these things stimulate you to preserve the char- 
acter, and encourage the progress of your town, by 
giving freely to sustain the institutions of religion. 



L.oFC. 



APPENDIX. 



The following sketch of the early history of Harvard has been kindly 
furnished by the Hon. Samuel A. Green, M. D., of Boston, from materials 
collected by him for his History of Groton now in preparation. A large 
portion of Harvard once formed a part of Groton and the two towns are 
closely connected in their history. Much information, historical and gen- 
ealogical, of interest to the inhabitants of Harvard may be found in Dr. 
Green's three volumes already published, viz : " Groton Records," " Groton 
Epitaphs," and "Groton during the Indian "Wars ; " and in Rev. Mr. 
Chandler's recently printed History of Shirley, Massachusetts. 

Publisher. 



HISTORICAL APPENDIX 

BY 

SAMUEL A. GREEN, M. D. 



The town of Harvard was made up from portions of 
Groton, Lancaster and Stow, and incorporated on June 
29, 1732. The petition for the township was presented 
to the General Court nearly two years before that time. 
In the Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 
84, 85), October 9, 1730, there is recorded: 

A Petition of Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone, Jonathan Whitney, 
and Thomas Wheeler, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf and at 
the desire of sundry of the Inhabitants on the extream parts of the 
Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow, named in the Schedule there- 
unto annexed; praying, That a Tract of Land (with the Inhabitants 
thereon, particularly described and bounded in said Petition) belonging 
to the Towns above-mentioned, may be incorporated and erected into 
a distinct Township, agreeable to said Bounds, for Reasons mentioned. 
Read, together with the said Schedule, and Ordered, That the Petitioners 
serve the Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow with Copies of the 
Petition, that they may shew Cause (if any they have) on the first 
Thursday of the next Session, why the Prayer thereof may not be 
granted. 

Sent up for Concurrence. 

The original copy of this petition is now probably 
lost ; but in the first volume (page 53) of " Ancient 
Plans Grants &c." among the Massachusetts Archives, 
is a rough plan of Harvard, with a list of the petition- 
ers for the township, which may be the " Schedule " re- 
ferred to in the extract from the printed journal. It 
appears from this document that, in forming the new 



HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 25 

town, 4,830 acres of land were taken from the territory 
of Groton ; and with the tract were nine families, in- 
cluding six by the name of Farnsworth. This section 
comprised the district, known even now as " the old 
mill," where Jonas Prescott had in very early times a 
mill for grinding and sawing. The heads of these fam- 
ilies were Jonathan Farnsworth, Eleazer Robbins, Simon 
Stone, Jr., Jonathan Farnsworth, Jr., Jeremiah Farns- 
worth, Eleazer Davis, Ephraim Farnsworth, Reuben 
Farnsworth, and [£om] Farnsworth, who had petitioned 
the General Court to be set off from Groton. In the 
same document similar statistics are found in regard to 
Lancaster and Stow. 

Eleazer Davis, one of the petitioners, was in the fa- 
mous Lovewell's Fight, on May 8, 1725, at Pequawket, 
now within the limits of Fryeburg, Maine. In the 
Journal of the House of Representatives (page 42), June 
15, 1738, is entered : 

A Petition of Eleazer Davis of Harvard in the County of Wor- 
cester, praying the Consideration of the Court on Account of his Suf- 
ferings and Services, particularly the Wounds and Smart received in 
the Fight under the Command of the late Capt. Love-well, against the 
Indian Enemy at Pig-wacket. 

Read and Ordered, That John Russell, and Robert Hale, Esqrs; 
Mr. Moodey, and Mr. Terry, be a Committee to consider the said Pe- 
tition, and report what may be proper to be done thereon. 

On the following day Mr. Russell, the chairman of 
the Committee, reported an order that : 

The Sum of Jour Pounds per Annum of the new tenor Bills, be 
granted and allowed to be paid out of the publick Treasury for the 
space of five Years to the Petitioner Eleazer Davis, to commence from 
the first Day of this Instant June, by way of Stipend or Pension, on 
Accoimt of the Wounds and Smart received as within, mentioned. 

Sent up for concurrence. 

The next document relating to the formation of the 
town is found among the Massachusetts Archives (cxiv. 
6-8), substantially the same, without doubt, as the orig- 
inal petition, and is as follows: 



26 HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 

To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq"". Capt General and Govern- 
our in Chief the Honbie The Council and the Honourable House of 
Eepresentatives of His Majestys Province of the Massachusetts Bay in 
New England in General Court Assembled by Adjournment De- 
eenibr. 10 1730. 

The Memorial of Jonas Haughton Simon Stone Jonathan Whitney 
and Thomas Wheeler 

Humbly sheweth That upon their Petition to the Great and Hon- 
ourable Court in October last [the 9th] praying that a Certain Tract 
of Land belonging to Lancaster Stow and Groton with the Inhabitants 
thereon may be erected into a Distinct and Separate Township (and 
for Beasons therein Assigned) your Excellency and Honours were 
pleased to Order that the petitioners Serve the Towns of Lancaster 
Groton and Stow with a Copy of their said Petition that they may 
shew Cause if any they have on the first Thursday of the next Ses- 
sions why the prayers thereof may not be granted. 

And for as much as this great and Honbie. Court now Sitts by Ad- 
journment and the next Session may be very Bemote And your Me- 
morialists have attended the Order of this Honbie Court in serving the 
said Several Towns with Copys of the said Petition And the Partys are 
attending and Desirous the hearing thereon may be brought forward 
ye former order of this Hon! Court notwithstanding 

They therefore most hambly pray your Excellency & Honours would 
be pleased to Cause the hearing to be had this present Session and that 
a Certain day may be assigned for the same as your Excellency & 
Honours in your great wisdom & Justice shall see meet. 

And your Memorialists as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray 

Jonas Houghton 
Simon Stoon Juner 
Jonathan Whitney 
Thomas Whelek 

In the House of Beptives. Dec r 17 1730 
Bead and in Answer to this Petition Ordered That the Petrs give 
Notice to the Towns of Lancaster Groton and Stow or their Agents 
that they give in their Answer on the twenty ninth Inst- why the 
Prayer of the Petition within referred to may not be granted 
Sent up for Concurrence 



In Council Dec. 18, 1730; Bead & Concur' d 



J Quincy Spkr : 



J Willard Secr'y 



In the Journal of the House of Representatives (page 
45), June 29, 1732, the following entry is made: 

A Bill Entitled An Act for erecting a new Totvn -within the County 
of Worcester by the Name of Harvard. 



HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 27 

. By this Act the town was incorporated, and so named 
in honor of the founder of Harvard College, perhaps at 
the suggestion of Jonathan Belcher, Governor of the 
Province at that time, and a graduate of the College. 
The engrossed Act on parchment is still preserved in 
the office of the Secretary of State, and the following 
is a copy of it. It will be noticed that the name of 
the town is left blank, except in the title, where it was 
written by Secretary Willard. It was not unusual in 
this kind of legislation at that period to leave the name 
of a town blank in the Act of Incorporation, when it 
passed the General Court ; and it subsequently was 
filled in by the Governor, or at his order. 

Anno Kegni Regis Georgii Secundi Quinto & Sexto 

An Act for erecting a New Town within the county of Worcester, by 
the name of Harvard 

Whereas the Inhabitants of the extream parts of the Towns of Lan- 
caster Groton and Stow have laboured under much difficulty and in- 
convenience by reason of their remoteness from the places of publick 
Worship in the Towns to which they respectively belong, & have sup- 
ported the Cost and Charge of preaching among them for several 
years past without any Consideration from their Towns, and have 
addressed this Court for Relief, & that they may be set off a distinct 
township by themselves 

Be it therefore Enacted by His Excellency the Governour, Coun- 
cil and Representatives in General Court assembled & by the author- 
ity of the same that the Lands in the extream parts of the Towns of 
Lancaster Groton and Stow as the same are hereafter bounded and 
described be and hereby are Set off, & Constituted a seperate & dis- 
tinct Township by the name of Harvard viz 1 , begining at the South- 
erly End of the Causeway, near the House of Samuel Wilson in 
Lancaster and from thence running North West and by West till the 
line meets with Lancaster [Nashua] River, & from said Cause Way run- 
ning South East & by East to Lancaster East bounds then running 
Northerly in the East Bounds of Lancaster till it comes to Beaver 
Brook, then bounding on said Brook till it comes to Littleton Bounds, 
and then running on said Littleton line near to the Northwest cor- 
ner thereof vizt- so far as that a West North West Line shall leave 
the dwelling house of James Stone in Groton six perch to the. North- 
ward, and continuing the same Course to Lancaster River aforesaid, 
excepting Coyacus ffarm or so much thereof as shall fall within the 



28 HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 

bounds Above said; and to bound West on said River and that the 
Inhabitants of the said lands as before bounded and described be 
and hereby are vested with all the powers privileges and Immunities 
which the Inhabitants of any Town in this province are or by Law 
ought to be vested with 

provided that the freeholders and other Inhabitants of the said 
Town Settle a learned and Orthodox Minister among them within the 
space of two years and also erect an House for the publick Wor- 
ship of God 

and Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the afore- 
said Town of be and hereby is Declared to be within the 
County of Worcester, Any Law Usage or Custom to the contrary 
notwithstanding 

1732 June 20th. This Bill having been read three several times in 
the House of Representatives passed to be Enacted 
1732 June 21st. j Qrixcv Spkr 

1732 June 29 This Bill having been read three several Times in 
Council passed to be Enacted J Willaed Secry 

By His Excellency the Governr 

June 29, 1732 I consent to the Enacting of this Bill 

J Belchek 

In the Journal of the House of Representatives (page 
26), June 6, 1747, is 

A Petition of the Town of Harvard, praying the Fine imposed 
on them the last Year for not sending a Representative may be re- 
mitted, for the Reasons mentioned. 

Read and Ordered, That this Petition be considered on Tuesday 
next at ten o' Clock before Noon. 

In the same Journal (page 29), June 9, it is re- 
corded : 

The House according to the Order of the Day entred into the Con- 
sideration of the Petition of the Representative [Daniel Pierce] of 
Harvard, as entred the sixth Currant, and Ordered, That the sum 
of ten Pounds be allowed the Town of Harvard, in Answer to the 
Prayer of the Petition. 

Sent up for Concurrence. 



19U\ 



